Leo denies climate change climbdown

LEO Varadkar has rubbished claims he planned to introduce a carbon tax in the last budget – despite committing two months beforehand to ‘grasp the nettle’ on the issue.

The Taoiseach was yesterday speaking as he announced €77million in investment for seven schemes to tackle climate change.

These initiatives aim to reduce Ireland’s carbon emissions by 500,000 tonnes yearly.

Mr Varadkar said Irish efforts to reduce carbon emissions were necessary to keep pressure on larger countries such as the US, China and India to fulfil their obligations.

But asked why he had failed to introduce a carbon tax in the last budget, he said: ‘I never committed that there would be an increase in the carbon tax in the budget. That’s a myth.’

In August, at a briefing with political correspondents, the Taoiseach said: ‘If we are going to meet our climate change obligations, then we will have to grasp the nettle in increasing the carbon tax over the next couple of years.’ But yesterday, Mr Varadkar insisted this was more of a longer-term aspiration as he set out a plan to introduce the levy in a phased manner by 2030.

Among the schemes awarded funding were €10million for the ESB to develop an electric vehicle charging network, €15million for Irish Rail to develop hybrid railcars, and €20million for Dublin City Council to turn heat generated at industrial facilities into energy for homes and firms.